The group was formed in Bay City Michigan in 1973 and consisted of Robert Charlebois (born in Bay City in 1957) on lead vocals, guitar, piano, harp, and sax, Joe Charlebois (born in Bay City in 1954) on drums and backing vocals, and Don Langenburg (born in Bay City in 1949) on bass guitar. The group had a melting pot of influences which included the Motown sound, English blues, American blues, and metal, as well as the great rock-n-roll bands coming out of
Detroit in the late 1960s. In 1974,  Mad Dog was asked to open for Bob Seger, the Silver Bullet Band, and MC5 at the Skidway Lake Music Festival. The band played all original material and was making a name for itself. In 1975 the group was again asked to open for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band in Saginaw, Michigan at a club called Hidden Hollow. In 1976 Mad Dog recorded its first album. After a trip to New York and a slew of rejection letters from the major labels, the band released the record in 1977. The album received airplay and made numerous college radio station playlists during 1977 -1978. Commercial radio was not into music this heavy at the time.  Distribution was a problem and the internet did not exist.  Indie labels were few and far between. Mad Dog recorded its 2nd album in 1980 and has not yet been released. After slugging it out for ten years playing up to 250 dates a year, the band broke up in 1983. On the 30th anniversary (2006) of the recording of Mad Dog 617, it was released on cd and is available for purchase via this site. The cd release of the album was preempted by the illegal cd release by Mr. Nobody Records in 2005. This release was not only illegal, it was ripped from vinyl and sounds bad. The official release is digitally remastered and sounds great. So... take a look around the site, send an e-mail, and let us know where you saw the band, heard on the radio, etc.  This site is a work in progress, check back now & then!  
Rock-n-Roll !!

Mad Dog was inducted into the Michigan version of the
Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in Spring 2019, "Michigan Rock-n-Roll Legends.” Go to the link below to visit the site to read more about Mad Dog.

https://michiganrockandrolllegends.com/index.php/mrrl-hall-of-fame/349-mad-dog